Do it, or don’t. There’s no try. Said Yoda. The mascot of Section X (that’s how we address PGPX), before T-Nite was about to begin. It was going to be an epic battle- X’s against the Fachhas and Tatchas (Section A to E of PGP).

You just can’t walk down the battleground- just like you just can’t walk down the aisle. You need to prep, and prep we did. Two weeks of intensive heart thumping prep. Which included catching up on lost sleep, to increase energy preserves, and taking care of the assignments- to relieve us of mental stress. Once both our mental and physical beings were aligned, we were ready to take the plunge.

Posters, banners, cut-outs, costumes- name it and we got it. Separate teams were assigned for each task- to make the best out of our diverse talent pool. While some of us were managing the control rooms, and some less talented ones like me were trying to take to blogging and shooting pics to excuse us out of chances of experiencing stage fright- the real soldiers had started their rigorous training.

And we had some secret weapons up our sleeves- meant to stun the enemy at the right point, which is obviously going to be revealed later. Hold your breath. Trenches were thus dug, moats created, crocodiles floated and fences erected. Battle plan was ready- it was to aim and shoot.

The kiddies (our dear PGPs) were engaging in sledging. We were called senile, arthritic, lacking on free energy, physical fitness. But we didn’t want to hide our bulging tummies- because as the learned Yoda says,
“Luminous beings are we.
Not this crude matter. ”

We would just let our lightsabres do the talking.

11^th august 2017. The day the world changed. T-Nite began.

We marched into Louis Kahn Plaza. We made it a point to walk out to full grounds- so turned up last. Again, something which the other sections didn’t get and called us lazy and not motivated enough. Perhaps they had not read Tolstoy, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time”. Timing was everything.

The egg, sack, banana races began. So, did face painting and graffiti designing. We weren’t going to participate in all.
“You should not fight often with the enemy. Or you will teach him all your art of war.” Napoleon Bonaparte. The force was with us, but we needed to ration it.

Adzap. That was our bet to take the bull by the horn, and stamp our presence. We needed to get an almost impromptu ad going on “Victor’s lacy socks and fifty shades of grey suit”. Performance in particular fields is directly proportional to experience. Ten mins, 98 points and we were on top of the points table. The Adzap Team had done what it was sent in to do. Penetrate the enemy lines, and nuke them all.

Night 2

RJ Mathai Auditorium wasn’t available- our Adzap performance had burnt the stage. We gathered in the mess, for the dances. And we unleashed our secret arsenal. The spouses and kids. Our kids just don’t cry fachas, they can also make you cry. (Making the same comment about spouses would be lethal though, for me). They stole the show- from classical to hip hop to bhangra- we had it all covered.

And in Mock Rock- We didn’t mock, we just rocked. Unfortunately the judges just couldn’t decipher it.

A word of praise for the other sections- we hate to admit that they came up with some really nice performances too, to push section X down the points table.

Night 3 was going to be closely fought.

The Final Countdown

We went into the auditorium with our war cries, “ Su chhe saru chhe, PGPX dhasu chhe”. Yoda, our beloved leader, with all his experience was leading from the front.

The night started with a musical performance. We decided to focus on music, and not sound- something which perhaps the other sections hadn’t thought about.

Then came Fash-P- the fashion show. We were last to go on stage. The teams before us had shown a lot of energy, but blame it on our senile minds- we failed to see a central theme.

We had to set an example- and show how This needs to be done. And from the word go, our troops just burnt the stage, again. This is not biased reporting- the entire hall (five sixths of which were occupied by other sections) were cheering for Section X. They hadn’t seen anything like this before.

Post show we just had one word for our rivals: X-Termination.

Last was the section dance. Let us not waste too much time discussing that- we were happy that we could shake a leg- and conveyed our message of a single school- where all sections stand united. Raw energy meets experience- that’s when IIMA ka tempo high hain, baki sabka le lenge Zig Zag Zig Zag.

Post the event our mail boxes were flooded with fan mails, praising us for the performances. And we had lived one of the best three days on campus.

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Archya, is a doctor-turned-healthcare administrator, who thinks he has a passion for writing, and hence uses his limited idle time to pen down his thoughts. No publishing house has yet made him any offers, so he has to now debate his opportunity costs.

Archya is presently pursuing a MBA (PGPX) from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Filed under: Events